Against Her Will
by Chidori R. Fullbuster
Summary: Where Gajeel forces Levi to go on a mission with him. Might be slightly OOC, but I'm learning! Rated T for Gajeel's mouth.
1. Might as well be kidnapping

I've wanted to do a Gajeel/Levi story for a while now, so, since my first attempt at a Gray/Erza story didn't go so well, I figured I'd take some time during my break and write one. I don't own Fairy Tail, obviously.

Levi McGarden stared at the request board, trying to decide what mission she wanted to take. As she explained to her teammates, who were promptly sulking, she was going to try to do a solo mission to see where her luck took her.

A shadow fell across the board; she turned around to see Gajeel with Pantherlily on his shoulder. "What're you doing?" the dragon slayer asked, glaring down at the blue-haired mage.

"I'm looking for a job," Levi answered cheerfully, turning to look up at the twosome. "It's been awhile since I've taken one."

"Hmm," Lily and Gajeel looked at each other before nodding in unison. The Eksheed jumped off Gajeel's shoulder, walking up to the board and pulling off a request. Gajeel lifted Levi up and threw her over his shoulder, taking the piece of paper his cat offered him.

"Hey, where are you taking me?" Levi screeched, beating her tiny fists against the dragon slayer's back. He ignored her, striding up to the bar where Master sat, sipping from his tankard.

"Me and the bookworm are going on a mission," Gajeel thrust the flier at Makarov, waiting on permission. "Got a problem with that?"

"Not at all," the old man responded happily. "Have fun and try not to break anything." Gajeel turned on his heel, heading towards the exit. Everyone stared as Levi continued to scream at him. The dragon slayer merely smirked. Lily strode beside the two of them, an amused look on his features. As they left the guild, Gajeel headed toward Fairy Hills.

"I'm going to take you to the dorms so you can grab some gear for this job," he commented casually, unaware of Levi's desperate attempts to get free.

"I was going on a mission by myself!" she retorted angrily, finally crossing her arms.

He scoffed. "You wouldn't last five minutes out in the world by yourself. I'm amazed you even manage to survive with those two puppies you call teammates."

Unable to come up with a snarky comeback, she kept her mouth shut. He walked through the doors of the dorm and wrinkled his nose. Everything in the damned place smelled like cotton candy. "Where's your room?"

"Up the stairs, second floor, turn right, third door on the left," she commented sullenly. He dropped her on her feet, turning her in the direction of the stairs. "Lead the way then." With an annoyed look, she promptly started up the stairs, the red-eyed dragon behind her.

The first thing that shocked him when they got to her room was the number of books. Ceiling-to-floor shelves lined every inch of the wall, crammed with texts, and yet there were still tomes stacked on her nightstand, vanity, dresser, and the floor. The second thing that got him was it didn't smell girly or frilly. It smelled like cedar and citrus. He sniffed the air once more before deciding he liked the smell.

"Well," Gajeel flopped down on the girl's bed, arms crossed behind his head. "Gather up some stuff so we can go ahead and be on our way."

In an extreme Lucy-ish manner, Levi put her hands on her hips and pouted. "How am I supposed to get ready if I don't even know what kind of mission it is?"

Lily, from his perch upon a stack of books, replied, "It's a combination mission to translate a series of books and to take out a band of thieves that are trying to steal said books for their own nefarious purposes."

Levi's entire demeanor brightened at once. "Then what're we waiting for! Who knows what kind of amazing books these will be!" She pulled a bag from one of the drawers of her dresser and immediately began filling it with the necessities she would need: clothes, underclothes, feminine products, books, toothbrush, and the like.

"Alright, let's go!" Not even waiting for Gajeel, she began skipping happily out of the room, humming some silly tune to herself.

"You know what?" the dragon slayer muttered under his breath to his partner. "I think she needs to stop hanging around blondie so much."

"Agreed," Pantherlily nodded. "It steals away from her innocent naivety."

"Yea- wait! What the hell are you on about?" Gajeel snarled, glowering down at the Eksheed, who merely smiled.

"C'mon you two!" Levi called from the bottom of the stairs. "I want to leave for this mission as soon as possible!"

"Alright, alright, we're coming, just stay there!" Gajeel called down as he and Lily made their way to the peppy little blue haired mage. They left the dorms, Levi's bag slung across her chest, and made their way to the train station.

So… should I continue? Review and tell me what you think!

–Chidori R. Fullbuster


	2. An idiot nevertheless

"So," Levi looked across the compartment at the dragon slayer, who was involved in a ridiculous staring contest with Pantherlily. "About how long will it take us to get there?"

"A couple hours at most," Gajeel replied, not taking his gaze away from his cat. "Then we'll have a bit of a walk to the town itself. It's a smaller town, so it doesn't have a train station."

"Gajeel," the solid script mage stared at him.

"What?"

"Why won't you pay any attention to me? You're the one who wanted me to come on this mission in the first place."

"Cause," Gajeel huffed. "I'm doing something important."

"Are you really?" A mischievous grin spread across Levi's face. "So, you wouldn't be able to do this oh so important thing if I," She lunged across the compartment, scooping Lily up in her arms. "Stole your cat from you?"

"The hell?" the dragon slayer locked eyes with the bookworm and regretted it almost at once. She had huge innocent brown eyes that made him blink from surprise.

"You lost," Lily commented in amusement from his comfortable position in Levi's arms.

"Shut it!" Gajeel growled. He pointed a finger at the small girl in front of him. "You have less than a second to give me back my cat."

"Why would I want to do that?" The evil little grin stayed on Levi's face. "I think he likes it better with me. Don't you Lily?" She cooed, petting the Eksheed on top of his head. The former soldier sighed in contentment.

"There's no damn way he'd like being with you," Gajeel yelled. "You're weak, defenseless, and a pain in the ass to protect!"

Levi's arms fell limply at her sides. Lily landed gracefully at her feet, giving the dragon slayer an incredulous stare. Levi's eyes filled with tears, her mouth clenched in a thin line to keep from sobbing. She turned away and went to the compartment door.

Gajeel felt something that could only be guilt in the pit of his stomach. "Uh-"

"Stupid Gajeel!" She turned back to face him, tears falling down her face. "I hate you!" With that, she ran out of the compartment.

The dragon slayer stared at the door, a slightly hollow feeling in his chest. She had just said she hated him. "You've really done it this time, you know?" He snapped out of his trance as Lily spoke. "I mean, I didn't think I was even possible for you to become even more of an idiot than you already were."

"Keep your mouth shut," Gajeel muttered, walking out of the compartment to find the bookworm. He didn't have to look far: she was in the dining car, shoving her face full of vanilla ice cream, drizzled in caramel and chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and had multiple fudge covered strawberries decorating it. He sat in the seat opposite of her, attempting to make eye contact. She ignored him and continued eating, covering the lower half of her face with flecks of white, black, red, and brown. "You're going to make yourself sick eating that fast," he said quietly.

Levi swallowed, spoon resting right at her lips as she kept her head bent down so she wouldn't have to look at the man in front of her. "What do you care?"

He let out a frustrated sigh. "I didn't mean what I said earlier. You've actually gotten a lot stronger since the first time I met you," He mentally winced at the thought of what he had done back then. "You're amazing with you magic and you know how to use it to get yourself out of any situation."

Levi looked up, seeing the pale pink on the dragon slayer's cheeks as he attempted to apologize and compliment her. His red eyes were shifted away and he kept his voice low, like he was afraid someone was going to hear what he said.

"And I-"

"Excuse me, ma'am," the waiter came up to Levi, cutting off Gajeel's last comment. "Here's your bill." He laid down the slip of paper before fluttering off. Before the solid script mage could even think about picking up the ticket, it was already in Gajeel's hand.

"I can pay for my own ice cream," she said, reaching into her pocket for her money.

"Too bad." As the waiter came by again, Gajeel shoved a handful of Jewels into the waiter's hand to pay for the ice cream. As the puzzled man walked off, the dragon slayer stood, once again hefting Levi over his shoulder.

"How do I keep ending up like this?" She asked, arms crossed as he carried her away from the half a sundae she had left.

"You wouldn't have to keep ending up like this if you didn't always try to run away," he replied. Once again, she didn't have a good comeback. They passed Lily, who was on his way to get some food of his own. When they arrived back in the compartment, Gajeel deposited Levi on her row of benches. "Now sleep off all the sugar you just ate. You damn well aren't going to be slacking off on this job just because you went on a pity trip!"

Levi rolled her eyes and halfway smiled before replying with a sarcastic, "Sir, yes sir." Using her bag as a pillow, she fell asleep in minutes.

Gajeel looked at her from his seat on the other side of the compartment. Quietly, he finished what he was going to say earlier: "And I don't mind protecting your ass every now and then."

**Yay, second part! I just want to thank everyone who reviewed, added me to their favorite author lists, and added this story to their story alerts and/or favorite stories. It really means a lot to me. I want to clarify this because I noticed how this could be confusing as I was writing it, Gajeel and Levi are not together (yet) in this story.**

–**Chidori R. Fullbuster**


	3. The price of a lie

**I'm super sorry! Before I could get this part written on my brother's computer, his trial for Word ran out and I had no way to write. I just downloaded Word on the laptop I got for Christmas, so I'll try to update at least a few more times over the week.**

Levi jolted to a start, looking around wildly. She was no longer on the train, but lying in an extremely plush bed. She sat up, looking across the room to see Gajeel lying in the bed across from hers, holding Lily like a teddy bear. She giggled, enjoying how much the dragon slayer looked like a little kid, regardless of the many piercings he had and the fact that said 'teddy bear' had a scar around his eye. Her laughter grew until she was doubled over, wrapped in the sheets, trying desperately to stop her snickering long enough to breathe.

The sound woke Gajeel, who opened one red eye irritably to glare at the bookworm. Every swear word on the tip of his tongue melted away as he saw her shaking, tears running down her face. "Um, shorty?" Whether the girl could hear him or not, he didn't know. "Are you okay?" He slid out of bed and walked over to her side, looking down slightly concerned.

Levi took a few deep breaths, only giggling a little bit. "Yeah," She said, looking up at the dragon slayer with a gleeful grin. "It was just too funny!"

"What was?" He asked, curiosity building slowly.

That sobered Levi quickly. "Nothing," she muttered, looking down, her face flushing slightly.

"Whatever," he shrugged, walking back over to his bed. "Go get a shower. We'll head out after you're done." She quickly grabbed a change of clothes and scurried to the bathroom. As she walked out, toweling her satiny hair dry, a startling thought occurred to her.

"Hey Gajeel?" She saw him laying on his bed while Lily was on the phone lacryma, ordering room service for them. The dragon slayer merely raised his eyebrows to show he was listening. "How did I get here?"

Gajeel closed his eyes as he searched for the right words to tell the little bookworm that he had carried her (bridal style) from the train station to the local inn (which was a two hour walk, dammit!) and had gotten them a room so they could rest before their mission. He never needed to though, Lily answered for him.

"I transformed into my true form and carried you," the solider lied, hanging up the phone. "Gajeel grabbed your bag for you."

"Oh, okay!" The solid script mage beamed, quickly grabbing said bag. "Since we have some time before breakfast gets here, I'm going to read." With that, she pulled out a tome that looked like it weighed more than she did, flipping it open to a page that she had dog-eared, becoming immersed in her own little world.

Gajeel and Pantherlily looked at each other. It was then Gajeel realized he owed his cat (who had an extremely sly smile on his face) for the quick lie.


	4. Bookphoria

After breakfast, the three checked out of the inn and headed toward City Hall. It was a grand, marble building, edged with silver and gold. Levy tilted her head back in awe so she could take the whole thing in at once. She failed to notice the fountain in front of her, however. Before she could topple in head first, Gajeel grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, seeing as she was wearing her usual yellow bikini top with a pair of jean shorts, to stop her.

"Watch where you're going, bookworm," he muttered, setting her down away from the fountain. She nodded, rubbing the back of her neck. She mumbled a simple 'thank you', which made the dragon slayer flush slightly. Lily, taking notice of this, smirked, which resulted in Gajeel tripping him. With a snarled swear, the creature launched himself at Gajeel's head. Cursing, the iron dragon grabbed at the cat as he made a mad swipe at his face with his claws.

"Stop it!" Levy called, but the two were too engrossed in their little fight to bother listening. It wasn't until they heard an amused chuckle that they stopped in an extremely comical fashion: both wide eyed, Lily pulling at Gajeel's hair and the latter trying to pull the cat off of him, exaggerated, red claw marks across one cheek. They turned to see a regal looking elderly man watching them, hands behind his back.

"So," the man said, taking notice of the guild mark on Gajeel's exposed shoulder. "You must be the mages we sent for."

Levy bowed quickly. "Yes sir." She responded as the other two proceeded to separate themselves. "I'm Levy McGarden. My partners are Gajeel Reitfox and Pantherlily." She gestured toward each male as she introduced them. Gajeel merely quirked an eyebrow when his name was said, whereas Lily saluted.

"Wonderful," The man said with small twinkle in his eye. "I'm Mayor Lancaster. Follow me please." He turned and set off at a surprisingly brisk pace. The three mages followed him into the colossal building. The went through multiple twists, turns, and Gajeel threatening to kill people he thought looked at him wrong before they reached a library about the size of the guild.

Levy's eyes sparkled vibrantly as she pranced and hopped around to the different shelves, looking at titles and squealing whenever she found a rare book. Gajeel tore his eyes away from the slightly enthralling sight in front of him to face the mayor. "Where are the books we're supposed to guard?"

"This way," the old man resumed walking. As Gajeel passed Levy, he quickly hefted her over his shoulder before she could dart away.

"No!" Levy complained, beating her tiny fists against the dragon slayer's back once again. "I wasn't done looking!"

"We're here on a mission," Gajeel reminded her. "After we get done, then you can look around."

Levy pouted, crossing her arms like a child. She stayed that way until they reached the books they were assigned to. They were a set, written in ancient characters, pages yellowed with age. Gajeel dropped her unceremoniously and she immediately picked up the first one in the set. Pulling her translation tomes and Wind Reading Glasses, Levy set to work.

"Now," Lancaster continued, turning to Gajeel. "I would like you three to stay here until the thieves have been caught and until the books have been translated. The staff here will bring you food, drink, and what ever else you like. We'll also move a couple beds up so you'll be comfortable. With that said, lunch will arrive in a few hours. Is there anything I should know before I leave?"

"Yes," Lily spoke up. "Make sure you send up plastic silverware so he," he pointed to Gajeel. "…doesn't eat the good silverware."

"Shut it," the dragon slayer muttered. The mayor just smiled, bowing before he left the team to their work.


End file.
